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Sun was definitely a revolving door in the late '70s and early '80s. By the time the band provided its third album, Sunburn, in 1978, Kym Yancey and head honcho Byron Byrd were the only remaining original members, following a management dispute. Founding members Sandridge, Jones and Hummons left Sun to form a new group called Dayton. And when Sun recorded its sixth album, Force of Nature, in 1981, only Byrd remained from its original lineup. Yancey left after 1980's Sun Over the Universe, and this LP marked the arrival of two newcomers: bassist Don Taylor and rhythm guitarist Anthony Thompson. Despite all those personnel changes, Sun always managed to sound like Sun -- something it can thank Byrd and Beau Ray Fleming for. Together, Byrd and Fleming (who wasn't an actual member) produced all of Sun's Capitol LPs, which is why the Sun of 1981 was recognizable as Sun even though it had only one original member left. But Force of Nature is a departure from Sun's previous albums in one sense: Byrd handles all of the writing himself this time, and the material he gives his band to work with is competent but not mindblowing. Sun disbanded in 1982 after a stint in Japan. In 1985 an amended line-up recorded the album 'Eclipse' for the Air City label. By this time Sun's line-up was down to Byron M. Byrd and Anthony Thompson.
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Sun - Sunburn (78 ^ 99mb)
Sun's third album, Sunburn, found the Ohio funk band going through some major personnel changes. Six guys (Bruce Hastell and original members Dean Hummons, Chris Jones, Hollis Melson, Shawn Sandridge, and John Wagner) left after 1977's Sun Power, and five new members (Robert Arnold, Nigel Boulton, Sonnie Talbert, Keith Cheatham, and Curtis Hooks) came on board. Gary King and Ernie Knisley (both of whom joined Sun with Sun Power) remained, as did original members Byron Byrd and Kym Yancey. So by its third album, the group only had two of its original members. But creatively, that isn't a problem on Sunburn, which is one of the band's more consistent and memorable records.
01 - You Are My Sunshine, Sun Is Here (5:03)
02 - Dance (Do What You Wanna Do) (6:01)
03 - When You Put Your Hand In Mine (5:56)
04 - You're The One (4:14)
05 - Long Drawn Out Thang (6:07)
06 - You Don't Have To Hurry (5:04)
07 - I Had A Choise (4:34)
08 - Sun Of A Gun (4:47)
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Sun - Over The Universe (80 ^ 86mb)
Sun entered the 1980s with Sun Over the Universe, which was the band's fifth album and more personnel changes. Four players left Sun after 1979's Destination: Sun (Curtis Hooks, Sonnie Talbert, Keith Cheatham, and Nigel Bolton), and three new members came on board with this LP: Sheldon Reynolds (who subsequently joined Earth, Wind & Fire), Larry Hatchett, and Dean Francis. But while Sun was a revolving door, it used the same producers on all of its Capitol releases; the same guys who produced Sun Over the Universe in 1980 (Beau Ray Fleming and Sun leader Byron Byrd) had produced all of its four previous LPs. Sun Over the Universe wasn't the big commercial breakthrough the band was hoping for, it was not for lacking some infectious funk. "Fancy Feet," "Hot Spot," and the science fiction-minded "Space Ranger (Majic's in the Air)" , might have been hits with the right exposure.
01 - Space Ranger (Majic's In The Air) (4:59)
02 - Hot Spot (5:01)
03 - Stay by my side (4:49)
04 - Quest (Instrumental) (4:30)
04 - You Threew My Love Away (4:29)
05 - I Want Your Love (4:46)
06 - I Made A Mistake (4:53)
08 - Fancy Feet (4:09)
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Sun - Let There Be Sun 82 ^ 88mb)
In 1982, Sun leader Byron Byrd must have been feeling quite frustrated. The band had been recording for Capitol since 1976, and only two of its songs had been hits: 1976's "Wanna Make Love" and 1978's "Sun Is Here." Nonetheless, Sun gave it one more shot with its seventh album, Let There Be Sun, which Byrd produced with Beau Ray Fleming. Tunes like "Super Duper Super Star" and "I Wanna Be With You" rely heavily on funk/dance clichés , pedestrian funk. It would seem Byrd had lost confidence as to how move forward. Management and Capitol records had him swimming . Let There Be Sun isn't terrible, but Sun was capable of a lot more.
01 - Slamm Dunk The Ffunk! (5:59)
02 - We're Gonna Party Tonite (4:11)
03 - Turn Out The Light (4:34)
04 - A Love Affair (4:46)
05 - Super Duper Super Star (4:40)
06 - Be My Lady (4:42)
07 - You And I (4:19)
08 - I Wanna Be With You (4:05)
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All downloads are in * ogg-7 (224k) or ^ ogg-9(320k), artwork is included , if in need get the nifty ogg encoder/decoder here !
Thanks for sharing, you are saving me some time digitizing my vinyl collection. Sun was one of my favorite funk groups.
ReplyDeleteHowever, have you noticed that your vinyl rips contain quite audible hum at 50 and 100 Hz as well as a high pitch noise at 15625 Hz?
As for the latter, not many people over 35-40 will ever hear it (neither do I :) but it's there. In fact you can hear it quite loud if you slow down the playback tempo, so that the noise falls down into your audible frequency range. It's also clearly visible if you analyze the recording with a sonograph.
So perhaps you might want to check your audio devices, if everything is properly connected, grounded etc. (I'm by no means an expert in that, however, but there are enough tips available on the web how to set up things to avoid hum.)
Cheers, Vinylieur
Hello Vinyleur, wht can i say..indeed i didnt notice the low hum, however i switched back the amplifier i previously used but had returned to my room system, which btw ive hardly used these past 5 years, so i wonder what you make of my larry graham central station of this week (44)..post a note please..
ReplyDeletebest of luck
Rho
Hi Rho,
ReplyDeleteI've checked GCS and GG (I'm only interested in files that I already own on vinyl, by the way) and the low hum is indeed gone. There's still the high pitch noise though. Is it possible that your TV is connected to your stereo as well? 15625 Hz is the frequency which analog TV tubes are emitting. (Oh, how I hated that noise, hehe. Luckily my ears are now too old to hear it ever again. And so are likely yours, otherwise you would have already noticed... :)
Cheers, Vinylieur
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ReplyDelete